Gas is losing credibility in Europe

E.ON fights the transit crisis with peaceful atoms

The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine has once again made us think about the importance of energy security, emphasizes the head of the largest German energy concern E.ON, Wulf Bernotat, in an article published yesterday in the Handelsblatt newspaper. For a long time, price and environmental aspects were put at the forefront. Now, Mr. Bernotat expects, “the most important source of energy of the future” will be energy conservation, and renewable energy sources “will be given an ever-increasing role step by step.”

In his article, Mr. Bernotat demanded that climate protection, prices, and the reliability and security of energy supplies be taken into account equally. For this, he is sure, multi-billion dollar investments are needed, which should be directed, for example, into the construction of new energy transport networks or installations for receiving liquefied gas. The head of E.ON also issued a warning against the economy's over-dependence on gas. “However, this dependence occurs automatically if nuclear and coal energy are rejected equally,” he points out. Mr Bernotat called on politicians to appreciate the role of large cross-border concerns such as E.ON. Only such a large technical holding, he noted, was able to timely pump gas from underground storage facilities in northern Germany to the Balkan countries suffering from the cessation of Russian gas supplies, and thereby mitigate the gas crisis.

But it is not only the diversification of energy purchases and types of energy that is becoming relevant for the EU. These days it became known that both of the largest German energy concerns, E.ON and RWE, presented accelerated plans to expand the use of nuclear energy. The two giants announced the creation of a joint venture to build and operate a series of new nuclear power units in the UK with a total capacity of at least 6 gigawatts. In the joint venture, which will be involved in the acquisition of sites for nuclear power plants, as well as their construction and operation, 50% each will belong to the British subsidiaries of E.ON and RWE - E.ON UK and RWE npower. E.ON and RWE independently own 20 nuclear power plants around the world. In addition, they own and jointly operate three nuclear power units in Germany.

In addition, as reported, the Finnish consortium of companies Fennovoima, which also includes the German E.ON, sent a request to the Finnish government for a fundamental decision regarding the construction of a nuclear power plant. We are talking about a future nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1500-2500 megawatts (E.ON's share in the project is 34%). It is planned that the new nuclear power plant will be brought to its designed capacity by 2020. Mr Bernotat notes in this regard that nuclear power will play a growing role throughout Europe as a reliable and carbon-neutral source of energy.

Yuri Shpakov, Berlin